Railroad-track foot-guard



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No. 422,560. V Patented Mar. 4, 1890.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN MELVIN wILsoN, OF OMAHA, NEBRASKA.

I RAILROAD-TRACK FOOT-GUARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 422,560, dated March 4,1890.

Application filed April 19, 1889. Serial No. 307,906. (No model.) I

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN MELVIN WVIL- SON, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Omaha, in the county of Douglas, State of Nebraska,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad-TrackFoot- Guards; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and eXact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use it, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings,which form a part of thisspecification.

My invention relates to improvements in railroad-track foot-guards.Heretofore said guards have been made by placing blocks of wood at thenarrow points between frogs, rails, guardrail, and main rail, and at allpoints along the track where a person is liable, through carelessness oraccident, to get a foot fast, and before being able to release the foothave it taken off or mutilated by a moving car or engine. These blocksare constantly becoming checked and split by the action of the sun andmoisture, and loosened by the movement of cars pressing upon and causingthe railto spring up and down, and the action of frost will loosen them.They require constant watching and need replacing by new ones veryoften.

The object of my invention is to provide a practical, safe, and durableguard. First, it is made out of sheet-iron of strength sufficient tohold the weight of any person, and withan occasional coat of paintwilllast a life-time; second, the guard is constructed from one solidsheet or separate pieces of iron or other suitable material.

Figure 1 is a piece of sheet-iron, two feet and two inches long, teninches at one end, and eight inches wide at the other end, of which mydevice is made. Fig. 2 is an end, top, and side view of the guard withboth sides and the wide end, as shown by lines marked A AA, turned downtwo inches, the

end being out so that it will strike against the ends of the turned-downsides. Fig. 3 shows an end view of the guard in position,

with manner of fastening by bolt through rail, marked B. Fig. 4 shows mydevice secured by a spike or stake at end of guard, marked C, and havinga shoulder on one side. I

I do not claim Letters Patent on fastening marked 13 and O.

The lower edges of sides marked A A rest upon the upper side of bottomflange of rail marked E E. The outer edge of upper side of guard markedF stand close up under lower edge of the head of rail marked H H andwill adjust itself to anyordinary movement of the rails. There is roombelow F between bottom of rails for the action of frost, and,.in fact,its position can only be affected by a movement of the rails or rail.The iron is pliable enough to give and take the spring of the railcaused by passing trains. The shape of the guard is such that if theflange of a passing wheel strikes the top F it will bend away from thewheel and spring back to position, as soon as the wheel passes over,without injury to F. It can be slid in and out of position, similar to adrawer, without injury.

The letters I I in Fig. 4 mark the lines which are raised from a portionof the level top F to form the shoulder marked K. The point marked L isformed just high enough to be below the top of rail marked H in Fig. 3and alongside of top of rail. Once placed in position and properlyfastened it will always remain until the rails are moved, and while soplaced no person can possibly get a foot fast between the rails at aswitch or in a frog or other points on the railroadtrack that needsguarding. It is of such shape that by varying its width, height, andlength it will fit any position required by high or low rails, or spreadof rails at a switch or other points along the track needing a guard.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

A railroad-track foot guard formed out of common or galvanized iron orany suitable material of sufficient strength to hold up more than theweight of any person, and In testimony that I claim the foregoing Iformed and shaped as shown in Fig". l on have hereunto set 1ny11andth1s4th day of hnes marked A FI K L, the shoulder K being February, 1885).

' adapted to be raised from such point in I JOHN MELVIN \VILSON. 5 andto extend any distance along F required \Vitnesses:

by the position 10 be filled, substantially as CHAS. E. CLAPP,

set forth. FRANK IRVINE.

